Anyone familiar with the regular stock of the PLCB have any recommendations for organically and/or biodynamically wines readily available in the Philadelphia area? And, I forget: is PA a 100% monopoly for wine or are there private shops in addition to state stores?

What part of Pennsylvania will you be in? It makes a HUGE diffence. Particularly we need to tll you which border to cross! I'm an expatriate myself, but I go back often (I'll be there Friday) and I ALWAYS bring wine with me. The few times I was forced to the local state store the selection was abysmal and the prices outrageous. My folks live in the Philly suburbs and the in-laws live in the Pittsburgh suburbs. I pretty much have the two large cities covered.

Philadelphia. There probably won't be any border-crossing: I'm getting recommendations for someone who's putting together a reception at a conference, and I don't think any of the people involved will be able to do much more than shop locally. Thanks for your advice, James!

In PA, you can only buy wine actually at the winery or through the state stores. I'm living in Philly now, and I have not seen much of a selection in organic wines around here. However, if you know what you want, you can always go to the manager of a state store and have him/her order it for you. It's sometimes pretty pricey, but its legal. Or just do what I do and drive to NJ!

Thanks, Lizbeth -- I see from their website that the PLCB has a Louis-Dressner Gavi on their list as a special-order, and I'm sure there are others, so maybe that would work. Is there a specific state store in Philly that you've been particularly happy placing special orders with?

you should be able to find the wines you need just across the river in new jersey, if someone has a car. Moore Bros is 5 min. from the bridge and Canal's is just another 2 minutes. btw, what the heck is CRB????

If someone does have a car, I would reccomend Total Wine in both NJ and Delaware. I would post a link to their website but I'm notoriously idiotic about such things. They are your typical BAWS, but they carry a nice selection and you should be able get better prices and better selection. I shop at their "sister" store in Maryland and am generally pleased with the quality of the product. It's definitely worth the drive to avoid the state store, although Philadelphia has a few BA state stores in the area. I think there is one out on Woodhaven Blvd in northeast near the Franklin Mills Mall. They are reputed to have better selection and better prices according to family sources.

Patchen (Chicago) wrote:Anyone familiar with the regular stock of the PLCB have any recommendations for organically and/or biodynamically wines readily available in the Philadelphia area? And, I forget: is PA a 100% monopoly for wine or are there private shops in addition to state stores?

Thanks!

Originally from PA, now in Chicago...
If you have any favorites, you can easily find out if/where it is available in the Philly area from the PLCB web site:
http://www.lcb.state.pa.us/ (click "Product Search")
Once you find the item(s) you want, click on the item number and you can search for the stores that carry it.

Sorry I don't have any particular recommendations. To answer your other question, PA is a near-100% monopoly. The only exception is that PA wineries are allowed to have up to 5 retail outlets selling their own wine only.

Five years ago, I traveled with my wife to a school & family reunion in a western suburb of Pittsburgh. The PLCB is probably doing a fine job serving their local residents, but I found them to be appallingly lacking in the wine department. All of our local grocery stores easily carried at least double the selection, and the PLCB was not even in the same league as our local wine shop. In addition, their selection of premium wines was quite poor. I also found few-to-no bargains at the PLCB during that visit.

I asked one of the store employees about this, and was informed that the PLCB had designated premium wine stores with better selection. Unfortunately, the nearest one was at least 20 miles away. However, any PLCB store could order any wine carried by their premium outlets.

Andrew has the right idea - use the online catalog features to check for availability of interesting wines in Philadelphia stores. Consider both regular and specialty items; sorting results by "Type" will put them first, and push special order (SLO) items to the bottom.

ClarkDGigHbr wrote:And don't even think about trying to buy a bottle of wine on Sunday.

No longer true, fortunately. Pennsylvania has had Sunday sales for a few years now. PA started wines sales on Sunday before NY did.